Oilfield operations, such as surveying, drilling, wireline testing, completions, production, planning and oilfield analysis, are typically performed to locate and gather valuable downhole fluids. During the oilfield operations, data is typically collected for analysis and/or monitoring of the oilfield operations. Such data may include, for example, subterranean formation, equipment, historical and/or other data. Data concerning the subterranean formation is collected using a variety of sources. Such formation data may be static or dynamic. Static data relates to, for example, formation structure, and geological stratigraphy that define the geological structures of the subterranean formation. Dynamic data relates to, for example, fluids flowing through the geologic structures of the subterranean formation over time. Such static and/or dynamic data may be collected to learn more about the formations and the valuable assets contained therein.
The data may be used to predict downhole conditions, and make decisions concerning oilfield operations. Such decisions may involve well planning, well targeting, well completions, operating levels, production rates and other operations and/or operating parameters. Often this information is used to determine when to drill new wells, re-complete existing wells, or alter wellbore production. Oilfield conditions, such as geological, geophysical and reservoir engineering characteristics may have an impact on oilfield operations, such as risk analysis, economic valuation, and mechanical considerations for the production of subsurface reservoirs.
Data from one or more wellbores may be analyzed to plan or predict various outcomes at a given wellbore. In some cases, the data from neighboring wellbores or wellbores with similar conditions or equipment may be used to predict how a well may perform. Usually, a large number of variables and large quantities of data may be used in an oilfield project to consider in analyzing oilfield operations. It is, therefore, often useful to model the behavior of the oilfield operation using an oilfield software application to perform a workflow to determine the desired course of action. During the ongoing operations, the operating parameters may be adjusted as oilfield conditions change and new information is received.
Workers seeking knowledge in the energy industry typically have access to a domain of structured information (data in databases or spreadsheets) and very limited access to unstructured data (reports, presentations, maps, emails, web content, etc. described above). Various studies indicate approximately twenty percent of data used in most businesses are structured data with the remaining eighty percent being unstructured data commonly appearing in memos, notes, news, user groups, chats, reports, letters, surveys, white papers, marketing material, research, presentations and Web pages. In energy (e.g., oil and gas, renewable energies, etc.) industry, more than sixty percent of unstructured data are not managed or used. If the worker uses common search tools for unstructured data such as web content search engines or Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS) for searching documents and reports, the search results are often unusable because the taxonomy of the search is not relevant to the domain and workflow of the energy industry.